Gold rises towards $1,185 an ounce

LONDON: Gold rose towards $1,185 an ounce on Thursday and held near record highs in euro terms on fears Greece’s debt issues may spread, with cautious comments from the European Central Bank doing little to temper risk aversion.

Spot gold was bid at $1,184.80 an ounce at 1404 GMT, versus $1,174.20 late in New York on Wednesday. US gold futures for June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $10.20 to $1,185.20 an ounce.

Euro-priced gold hit a record high of 930.22 euros an ounce, while in Swiss francs and sterling the metal also peaked at a record at 1,319.79 francs an ounce and 787.93 pounds an ounce respectively.

Platinum was bid at $1,659.50 an ounce, having earlier climbed three percent to $1,682 an ounce against $1,625 on Wednesday as it recovered from its lowest since late March.

Meanwhile palladium was at $509 against $501.50 and silver was at $17.58 an ounce versus $17.43.

Copper dips: Volatile copper eased on Thursday as the negative impact of a tumbling euro and mounting concern over the potential for a eurozone debt crisis offset expectations of renewed Chinese buying below $7,000 a tonne.

Benchmark copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange ended at $6,950 a tonne, down from a close of $6,959 on Wednesday, when the metal, used in power and construction, fell to an early Feb low at $6,632.75.

Copper stocks at 492,700 tonnes are down about 62,000 tonnes since the middle of February. Aluminium stocks have fallen to 4.512 million tonnes, since hitting a record high above 4.640 million tonnes in January.

Aluminium, used in transport and packaging, closed at $2,104 a tonne from $2,121 at Wednesday’s close. Earlier the metal hit $2,060, its lowest since mid-Feb.

Nickel ended at $22,000 a tonne from $21,925, having fallen more than 6 percent to $20,450 earlier, its lowest since late February.

Zinc closed at $2,115 from $2,125, soldering metal tin ended at $17,700 from $17,550, while battery material lead was untraded but last bid at $2,001 from $1,940. reuters